legalize
Americanverb (used with object)
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legalizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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legalized,
past participle, past
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legalizing
present participle
verb
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to make lawful or legal
-
to confirm or validate (something previously unlawful)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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legalizesimple
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legalizessimple
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have legalizedperfect
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has legalizedperfect
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am legalizingprogressive
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are legalizingprogressive
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is legalizingprogressive
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have been legalizingperfect progressive
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has been legalizingperfect progressive
Past
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legalizedsimple
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had legalizedperfect
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was legalizingprogressive
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were legalizingprogressive
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had been legalizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of legalize
Explanation
To legalize some activity is to change a law so that people are free to do it. You might live in a state that once banned fireworks, until citizens voted to legalize them—making Independence Day significantly noisier. When something that's been illegal goes through the process of becoming legal, the government legalizes it. Gambling was legalized in Nevada back in the 1930s. To legalize a person is to make them a legal citizen of a country. Today, many people argue for legalizing victimless crimes, or those that arguably don't hurt anyone.
Vocabulary lists containing legalize
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ize
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-ize, List 2
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leg, legis (law)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It overwhelmingly passed a bill to legalize the new stock.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Polymarket has an advantage there: U.S. states with the highest Hispanic populations, namely Texas and California, have yet to legalize traditional sports betting.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
Supreme Court struck down the ban on sports betting, paving the way for states to legalize in-person and online betting.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 10, 2026
Part of the rationale to legalize sports gambling was that professional athletes make so much money that they wouldn’t be tempted by bribes.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
When word of Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation reached the Hermitage, all of the newly freed people were told they must legalize their marriages.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
June 26, 2015 United States Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage nationwide.
From Seattle Times ● May 5, 2024
The 100-page "family code" legalizes same-sex marriage and civil unions, allows same-sex couples to adopt children, and promotes equal sharing of domestic rights and responsibilities between men and women.
From Reuters ● Sep. 26, 2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed into law a bill that effectively legalizes the cryptocurrency sector in the country.
From The Verge ● Mar. 17, 2022
The day the state legalizes the business, considered a virtual inevitability by most in the industry, will be like the start of a modern-day gold rush.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2020
The act legalizes the deportation of people suspected of having “ties to terrorism.”
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
Marriage equality was legalized in all 50 states by the Supreme Court 11 years ago in Obergefell v.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026
The state’s supremacy in the sports-betting space is also noteworthy because New York only legalized online sports wagering in 2022.
From MarketWatch ● May 15, 2026
Nearly 70% of DraftKings Predictions sports trading volume is coming from states without legalized Sportsbook, according to Hickey, signaling that predictions markets aren’t cannibalizing DraftKings’ sports-betting business at a high rate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
Since California had legalized the procedure decades earlier, Seymour reasoned that he should respect women’s choices.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026
Du Bois praised and embraced Washington’s emphasis on “thrift, patience, and industrial training for the masses,” but sharply disagreed with his public acceptance of segregation, disenfranchisement, and legalized discrimination.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
Major investments in battery energy storage, as well as a new state law legalizing plug-in solar, should also help move the needle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
Since the early 1970s, Steinem used her voice and influence to work toward legalizing safe abortions while championing survivors of rape and domestic violence and pushing for equal pay in the workplace.
From Salon ● Sep. 3, 2026
Call me naive, but that’s what I thought most sports betting would look like after the Supreme Court struck down a law in 2018 that had prevented states from legalizing the practice.
From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2026
He put his effort into legalizing people already here—nearly three million, the largest such legalization in U.S. history.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026
Two men loudly discuss how Patel has been successful in legalizing their family members.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
